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[German version] (Ἀλκείδης; Alkeídēs). Patronymic of Alceus = Alcaeus [1], therefore epithet of Hercules as grandson (Hes. Sc. 112) of Amphitryon and as son of Alcaeus. A. is also regarded as Hercules' real name, which was altered by the Pythia (Apollod. 2,73). Graf, Fritz (Colu…

[German version] (Γαλεῶται; Galeôtai). Name of a Sicilian family of seers, probably from Hybla Galeatis/Gereatis (Paus. 5,23,6), whose members are linked with prophecies relating to the rule of  Dio…

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[German version] (ἀρχηγέτης; archēgétēs). ‘Leader’, functional title of heroes and epiclesis of Apollo and Hercules. In the case of heroes, A. indicates in particular the role of progenitor and patron -- examples are the heroes of Attic demes (Demosth. 43,66 [1]) and the Thracian horse-riding hero in northern Greece and in Pontus [2]. Apollo A. denotes Apollo as t…

[German version] (Κόδρος; Kódros). Son of  Melanthus, a mythical king of Athens. In the list of Attic kings, his role is primarily to establish the connection to the Pylian colonists of Ionia. According to a tradition common in the 5th cent. BC, his father, a Neleid, came to Athens as a refugee and was made king by the last descendant of  Theseus; C. followed his father. His only notable act was his voluntary sacrificial death in order to save the city: when the Dorians attacked Athens and an oracl…

(Ἀλκάθοος; Alkáthoos). [German version] [1] Megarian hero, connected with the town that was also called Alcathoe Megarian hero, son…

[German version] (Ἀκεσ(σ)αμενός). King of Pieria, founder and hero of Acesamenae in Macedonia (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀκεσαμεναί); father of Periboea, who became mother of Pelegon by the river god Axius (Hom. Il. 21,142). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀχλύς). The darkness that in Homer comes upon the eyes of mortals (e.g. Il. 5,696) or those whom the gods have …

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[German version] (Ὑριεύς; Hyrieús). Son of  Poseidon and  Alcyone [1], founder of the Boeotian town  Hyria.  Trophonius and Agamedes build him a treasury, but such that they can secretly steal from it; a story follows this which varies the tale of the master thief (Hdt. 2,121) (Paus. 9,27,5-7). The story of how H. comes by his son Orion is often told: Zeus and Apollo visit the childless widower, and in thanks for his hospitality (he slaughters his only cow for them) they urinate into the skin of the beast; from this is created the child Orion (wordplay on oureîn, ‘urinate’; in detail Ov. Fas…

[German version] (Λήναια, the Lenaea). Name of a festival of Dionysus that according to the name of the month associated with it - Lenaion - must have been widespread over the whole of Ionia. However, we have more precise knowledge only of the festival from Athens, where the Lenaea together with the Anthesteria and the two Dionysia were par…

[German version] (mid-Persian, Avesta Angra Mainyu, Greek Ἀρειμάνιος; Areimánios, Latin Arimanius). One of the twin gods in the system of Zoroaster; the ‘evil spirit’ alongside Spnta Mainyu, the ‘spirit of wholeness’, the two opposing creators of the world (Yasna 30,3-5) and apparently sons of  Ahura Mazdā (Yasna 47,2-3), with whom A. merges in the post-Gathas period. Thus in the theology presented at Plut. De Is. et Os. 46 f. Areimanius is a cult god and enemy of Ōromazdes (Ahuramazda); the mediator b…

[German version] (usually spelled Halaesus). Italic hero, companion or illegitimate son of  Agamemnon, who fled to Italy (Serv. Aen. 7,723). He is regarded as the founder of  Falerii and the eponymous hero of the  Falisci, and imported the local cult of Juno…

[German version] [1] Ancient name for Egypt Ancient name for Egypt used in Aesch. Supp. 75; see also Steph. Byz., s. v. Αἴγυπτος ( …

[German version] (Ἄφίδνος; Aphídnos). Autochthonous, eponymous king of the Attic town of Aphidna (Steph. Byz. s. v. Aphidna). He was entrusted by Theseus with the task of guarding Aithra, Theseus' mother and also the abducted Helen (Plut. Thes. 31; 33). During the attack on Aphidna by the Dioscuri (heavenly twins), he wounded Castor in the right thigh (Polemon fr. …

[German version] The cultic worship of the emperor during his lifetime and after his death, namely as a deity and part of the municipal pantheon, was as such the Roman Imperial version of ruler cult already commonly practised amongst the Hellenistic kings. Like the ruler cult, emperor worship was seen from the perspective of the towns as an expression of political ties and political self-definition. From the ruler’s point of view, it was a means of safeguarding his power symbolically. Greek ruler cult can traced back solely to neither the Middle East nor the Greek hero cult…

[German version] Roman equivalent of the Greek ruler of the Underworld,  Hades or respectively  Pluto. According to ancient tradition, the name Dis derives from dives, ‘rich’, in the same way as Pluto derives from …

[German version] In pagan Rome, the antistes is the leader of rites and administrator of a temple, the priest or high priest, though not as a specialist term in sacred language, despite its rare inscriptional use (CIL III 1115,7. X 5654). As old Roman temples did not have permanent priests, the expression was used for specific sacral colleagues such as the vestals (Liv. 1,20,2) or the Decemviri as A. of Apoll…

[German version] (Ἀντέρως; Antérōs). ‘Mutual love’, as personified requited love, likewise the avenger of an unrequited love (Serv. Aen. 4,520). In a palaistra from Elis a plastic group of bot…

[German version] (Αἰγιάλεια; Aigiáleia). In prose also Aegiale, daughter of Adrastus (Hom. Il. 5,412) and Amphithea (Apollod. 1,79), and wife of Diomedes. In order to avenge herself for being wounded by Diomedes (Il. 5,330 ff,) Aphrodite coerces her, during Diomedes' absence in Troy, into getting involved with many young men in Argus. Upon returning home, Diomedes wants to murder A., or he flees in abhorrence to Calydon, and then to Italy. The myth establishes Diomedes' Italian adventure with the a…

[German version] (Κελεός; Keleós). An Eleusinian local hero, local king and husband of  Metaneira, who upon the wish of his four daughters hospitably receives  Demeter who is wandering in search of her daughter, entrusts to her the care of his newborn son  Demophon [1] and finally builds her first temple after her epiphany (H. Hom. Cer.; a slightly different version according to the old poet Pamphus is given in Paus. 1,38,3); as a local hero, C. re…

(Ἀθήνη/Ἀθηνᾶ; Athḗnē/ Athēnâ). [German version] A. Etymology and Origin Central Greek polis deity, daughter of Zeus and Metis, born from her father's head, virginal patron of war, crafts and female work (Hom. Hymn. Ven. 7); her common epithet, Pallas, is understood to mean ‘girl’ (Chantraine s.v. παλλακή). The Romans identified her with  Minerva (Etruscan, …

[German version] (Λητώ; Lētṓ). Daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe (Hes. Theog. 405). She gives birth to Zeus' twins Apollo and Artemis and appears closely connected to them from Homer (Il. 5,447; 20,39f.). However, the birth of Apollo is closely linked to Delos, while that of Artemis is also linked to Ephesus. In both cases, the myth speaks of Hera's hostility which forces L. to make a long journey and delays the birth. On Delos, the floating island, where L. is finally accepted after sh…

[German version] (Ἀκανθίς, ‘siskin’ and Ἄκανθος, ‘goldfinch’). Daughter and son of Autonous and Hippodamia, sisters of Erodius (‘Heron’), Anthus (obscure bird-name), Schoineus (likewise). When the mares from the father's horse stud pulled Anthus apart, the…

[German version] [1] Name of a goddess associated with agrarian wealth in the imperial period Name of a goddess associated with agrarian wealth ( karpophóros) in the imperial inscriptions of Lesbos and Aegae; identified with Agrippina I and II (as Θεὰ Αἰολὶς Σεβαστή; Theà Aiolìs Sebastḗ, IG XII suppl. 134). She corresponds to the Αἰοληία θεά ( Aiolēía theá) mentioned in Alc. fr. 129 LP, who was worshipped together with Zeus and Dionysus Omestes in the main Lesbian sanctuary at Messa. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography L. Robert, Recherches épigraphiques V. (Inscriptions de Lesbos), in: REA 62, 1960, 285-315 L. A. Stella, Gli dei di Lesbo in Alceo fr. 129 LP, in: Parola del Passato 11, 1956, 321-34…

[German version] [1] Wife and sister of the Phaeacian king  Alcinous (Ἀρήτη; Arḗtē). Wife and sister of the Phaeacian king  Alcinous (Hes. fr. 222). Her benevolence helped both Odysseus (Hom. Od. 7) and Jason and Medea: she mediated between the Argonauts and the Colchians (Apoll. Rhod. 4,1068-1120), married Jason to Medea (Apollod. 1,138 f.), and presented the couple with 12 female servants who jokingly teased the heroes during the wedding celebrations; an aition in the cult of Apollo Aigletes [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) …

Erdbeer, Robert Matthias…

[German version] (Κυνοκέφαλοι; Kynoképhaloi, ‘dog heads’) is the term for various fanciful frontier peoples; they settled in Libya (Hdt. 4,191), in Ethiopia (Aesch. fr. 603ab Mette; Str. 16,4,16) and in India (Ctesias, FGrH 688 F 45), and are considered to be particularly just and long-lived. The link between animal and ideal human t…

[German version] I. General comments Predestination (Lat. praedestinatio, a Christian concept) is most precisely the Christian doctrine according to which history and individual lives are predetermined. A groundbreaking idea in the history of the Church resulting mainly from the dispute between Augustinus and the Pelagians (Pelagius [4]), its roots go back to the OT and Graeco-Roman philosophy and religion. It is, ultimately, the Christian version of a conflict, fundamental to most religious systems, b…

(Ἀριστόδημος; Aristódēmos). [German version] [1] Great-grandson of Heracles Great-grandson of Hercules, one of the three Heraclids who led the Dorians into the Peloponnese. According to the widely known version of the myth (Pl. Leg. 3,692 bk.; Apollod. 2,173; Paus. 3,1,6), A. died before reaching the Peloponnese, leaving twin sons, Eurysthenes and Procles, who then received Laconia and became the founding fathers of both the royal houses of Sparta. According to Spartan tradition, A. himself led the Spar…

Roman god of the outdoors, early identified with the Greek  Pan. In poetry and especially in the figurative arts the two generally coincide: F., lover of the  Nymphs (Hor. Carm. 3,18,1) and insatiable erotomaniac [1], comes from Hellenistic mythology. F. does not have his own iconography [2; 3]. Like Pan, he is associated with forest and mountains as well as with goats and sheep. More his own is his role as originator …

[German version] (χίμαιρα; chímaira). C., ‘goat’, is the Lycian monster, ‘lion in front, snake behind, and she-goat in the middle’ (Hom. Il. 6,181 = Lucr. 5,905), slain by  Bellerophon. It is the child of  Typhon by Echidna, mother of the  Sphinx (Phix: Hes. Theog. 319-326); a differen…

[German version]  Elk-like animal of nordic countries (Scandinavia or Gangavia), known to the Romans only from hearsay. In the descriptions (Plin. HN 8,39; Solin. 20,3) zoological mirabilia of other animals (elk, elephant, rhinoceros) are mixed with possibly genuine memories of the giant deer, which died out in historical times. The Pliny report survives in the Song of the Nibelungs (16,937), where the …

[German version] (Ἀγαπήνωρ; Agapḗnōr). Son of Ancaeus (Hyg. Fab. 97), king in Tegea. In connection with the murder of  Alcmaeon [1], Arsinoe, the daughter of Phegeus, was brought to him by her brothers as a slave in a chest (Apollod. 3,90). A. was one of Helen's suitors (Apollod. 3,129) and led the Arcadians before Troy (Hom. Il. 2,609). On the return journey he came to Cyprus, where he founded Paphus and its sanctuary of Aphrodite (Paus. 8,5,2).…

The goddess of fortune with an ancient cult in Italy; in the Republican period mostly understood as favourable chance but later considered increasingly negative, at least in literature. The myth of her relationship to Servius  Tullius demonstrates that this deification of an abstraction is to be understood in the full personal meaning ( Personification).The multitude of her cultic specifications (lists: Plut. Mor. 281e; 322f.) makes a uniform interpretation of origin and function difficult (revi…

[German version] Daughter of Phegeus of Psophis, possesses the necklace of Eriphyle (Paus. 2,24,8-10); also called  Arsinoe [3]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀγαμήδη; Agamḗdē). Daughter of Augeias, wife of Mulius, like Medea, one with knowledge of healing herbs (Hom. Il. 11,740 f.; Eust. Dion. Per. 322). With Poseidon, mother of Belus, Actor and Dictys (Hyg. Fab. 157). Her name is suggestive (‘Great Thinker’), like the variant Perimede …

[German version] (Ἀρείων [ Areíōn], in MSS also Ἀρίων [ Aríōn], on coins Ἐρίων [ Eríōn]). Adrastus' horse, descended from the gods (Hom. Il. 23,346). Poseidon, in the form of a stallion, fathered it in Thelpousa in Arcadia with Demeter, who had wanted to escape from him by transforming herself into a mare: the myth explains the epicleses of both deities -- Hippios and Erinys (the ‘Angry One’, Paus. 8,25,4-8). A…

(Ἀμφικτύων; Amphiktýōn). [German version] [1] Mythical third king of Athens The third king of Athens, successor of Cranaus, predecessor of Erichthonius, auto…

[German version] [1] Water monster (Ὕδρα; Hýdra, ‘water snake’). A monster, born of the monsters  Typhon and  Echidna (‘snake’) and raised by  Hera out of anger at Zeus. It lives at the spring of  Amymone in the swamps of Lerna, stealing cattle and humans until it is finally killed by  Heracles (Hes. Theog. 313-318; Diod. Sic. 4,11,5f.; Apollod. 2,77-80; Hyg. Fab. 30) despite the help of a crab sent to its aid by Hera. This killing constitutes Heracles' second deed in the canonical sequence. His lion'…

(Ἀκέστωρ; Akéstōr), ‘Healer’, literary epithet of Apollo (Eur. Androm. 900), but also anthronym (unknown Athenian: Aristoph. vesp. 1221). [German version] [1] Figure from Greek myth; Son of Ephippos of Tanagra…

(Ἀστέριος; Astérios). [German version] [1] Cretan epiclesis of Zeus A Cretan epiclesis of Zeus, attested to only in the Byzantine writers; it arose through euhemeristic interpretation of the myth of Asterion [1]. In contrast to this view, evolutionist interpretations regarded him the origin of that hero. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) …

[German version] (Κισσεύς; Kisseús, from Greek κισσός, ‘ivy’, the holy plant of  Dionysus; Latin …

[German version] (Ἄτυμνος; Átymnos). Cretan hero, brother of Europa. A funeral in Gortyn commemorated his early death, which Phoebus A. (Adymnus) found as charioteer of the sun (Sol. 11,9; Nonnus, Dion. 11,128ff.; 258; 12,217; 19,180).…

[German version] Play a role in Greek and Roman religion as well as in some other religious cultures. Although the meaning of the iconographically transmitted Minoan ‘cult knot’ is unclear [1], knots are a common symbolic medium of binding something, esp. in the magic and healing rituals of historical times. Thus, the knot o…

(Ἱππόλυτος; Hippólytos). [German version] [1] Son of Theseus and an Amazon Son of  Theseus and an Amazon ( Antiope [2] or  Hippolyte). His mythical-literary image was shaped essentially through the H. dramas by Sophocles ( Phaedra, lost) and esp. by Euripides, the lost earlier H. Kalyptómenos (‘The Veiled H.’) and the extant H. Stephanēphóros (‘The Garlanded H.’). The point of departure for both authors is his stepmother  Phaedra's love for H., which he rejects, whereupon Phaedra accuses him of sexually pursuing her. The enraged Theseus curses H.…

[German version] (Ἑστία; Hestía). Greek goddess of the  hearth. Like  Vesta, she is a personification closely connected to her subject and cannot be separated from the ritual role of the hearth in both public and private domains. The cultic worship of the hearth probably derives from notions originating in the Indo-European period [1]. The cult of H. is generally characterized by the fact that she is addressed first in every prayer and is the first to receive a donation in every sacrifice (Pind. Nem. 11,5; Eur. Phaeton fr. 781,35; Pl. Crat. 401a).…

[German version] (Ἶφις; Îphis). Name of a series of minor heroes (genitive Ἴφιος; Íphios) and heroines (genitive Ἴφιδος; Íphidos). The ambivalence in sex is the basis for the story in Ov. Met. 9,666-797 of the change of sex of the daughter of Lygdus and Telethusa in Phaestus, which is a poetic transformation of the aitiology related by Antoninus Liberalis 17 after  Nicander for the ritual of Ekdysia in the cult of Leto at Phaestus, where the heroine is called Leucippe [1]. In addition, several Argive heroes, an Argonaut, a comrade of the Seven Against Thebes and a female sla…

[German version] (Κερδώ, Kerdṓ, the ‘purveyor of gain’). The wife of the Argival primordial man  Phoroneus; she has a tomb (and therefore a cult) on the agora of  Argos, next to the shrine of  Asclepius (Paus. 2,21,1). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

(Ἀγλαΐα, ep. -η; Aglaía/-ē, ‘festive radiance’). [German version] [1] Youngest of the Charites Youngest of the  Charites, married to Hephaestus (Hes. Theog. 945; Pind. Ol. 14,10). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Figure from Greek myth: Spouse of Charopus Spouse of Charopus, mother of  Nireus of Syme, according to Achilles, he was the most handsome of the men at Troy (Hom. Il. 2,671-5; Diod. Sic. 5,53). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)